We all have those days.

Those days when everything just seems to keep piling up – one problem on top of another – until you’re just so overwhelmed and discouraged, and negativity inevitably seeps in.

Enter the negativity spiral.

Unfortunately, negativity is one of those things that once it starts, it can be hard to stop.

But it’s not impossible

Here are 4 steps to stop negativity from spiraling out of control:

1. Stop and take a breath

When we get overwhelmed, it’s human nature that our “fight or flight” responses kick in and our breathing pattern shortens. In the human body, when we are faced with danger, our heartbeat speeds up and we breathe faster in order to get more oxygen for fighting or fleeing. It’s a biological, natural response, designed to keep us safe from harm.

This is the same reason that shallow breathing is a common side effect of anxiety, along with rapid heartbeat and even chest pains.

Furthermore when the body is under duress, it often experiences something called ‘effortful breathing.’ The breathing muscles contract and levels of muscle tension throughout the body increase, which also makes us feel worse.

So one of the first ways to stop a negativity spiral in its tracks is just to pause and breathe. Put down your pencil, take your hands off your computer, walk out of any stressful meeting room, quiet your mind, and just focus on inhaling and exhaling, slowly.

Inhale for 5 seconds, exhale for 5 seconds, and repeat 5 times. This will help slow down the increasing rhythm of your heart, allow your blood to flow to all parts of your body, and help calm and energize you.

2. Write down everything that’s worrying you or causing you negativity

Oftentimes our anxiety and stress is caused from feeling like our negative influencers are out of control. Our problems just seem to keep getting bigger and bigger, and there’s no solution in sight.

So one of the best things you can do to stop a negativity spiral is get out a pen and paper (or a Google Doc), and jot down everything that’s stressing you out or causing you pain.

Writing these stressors down gets them out of your head and into a tangible space of assessment. Everything seems worse when it’s undefined. This is because our brain can be our own worst enemy and magnify problems when their impact is intangible. Getting problems down on paper makes them tangible and limited, which will immediately help ease some anxiety.

3. Just do one thing

There’s an old, somewhat nonsensical, saying that I keep top of mind when I personally am feeling stressed: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

Although the image is alarming, the message is important. Even the biggest, scariest issues can be tackled “one bite at a time.” Sure, you will not be able to solve ALL these problems RIGHT now. But you can do something.

So, before you get completely overwhelmed, and after you’ve written down your stressors, tell yourself “I’m just going to do one thing to improve this.”

Here’s an example:

Are you stressed out due to money issues? Maybe a credit card bill or unforeseen expense that’s causing you anxiety?

Your “one thing:” Decide not to eat out for the rest of the week. OR look at existing expenses to see where you can cut down (gym membership, subscription services etc) – eliminate one of them. Both of those actions take about 2 minutes. And they will help ease your mind’s worries of financial issues.

Here’s another example:

Are you stressed out at work due to a big project that you need to get started on, but have no idea how?

Your “one thing:” Start making a “plan.” Write down every step you can think of that will be involved in carrying this project to completion. This will solve two problems. Not only will you be able to get your arms around the scope of this large project by writing down every little step, but you’ll also know EXACTLY what you need to do when you start the project, because you will have already written down the steps.

In conclusion: When trying to solve a problem and fight negativity, you don’t need to do EVERYthing. You just need to do ONE thing. 

4. Write the solutions

Here’s an approach that I personally like to take when I’m struggling with negativity or overwhelm. I take a step back and imagine that it’s not me, but someone else who’s dealing with these problems. Maybe a friend or family member. (This helps me think objectively about problems, and choose logic over emotion in coming up with solutions.)

Then I literally take a pen to paper (or in this case *ahem* fingers to a blogging platform) and write down what I would tell them to do. Based on my own experience, what’s the best advice I could give them to help them with their problems? Often breaking it down into a series of steps (kind of like this article), helps to simplify a course of action.

It may seem silly, but this exercise has worked for me time and time again in realizing that the solutions to my problems are achievable, which in turn helps stop me from negativity-spiraling.

Give it a try, and let me know how it goes.